


Love in the Dark

by Keller_Bloom



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Phasma - Delilah S. Dawson
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-01-16 03:39:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18513148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keller_Bloom/pseuds/Keller_Bloom
Summary: Set after the Phasma novel (will contain spoilers from that story).A short exploration of the possible relationship beginnings of Vi and Cardinal.





	1. Vi

**Author's Note:**

> This story is still under construction, but I hope to post regularly.  
> It is not going to be particilarly lengthy.

Vi didn’t know why seeing the intercepted First Order transmission had startled her so much. Captain Cardinal had after all (in the eyes of the Order at least) provoked an attack on another high-ranking officer of the fleet, abandoned his duties and forsaken his training seemingly out of nowhere. He was in their eyes a traitor, a deserter and a coward, so of course they would issue galaxy wide orders for his arrest and immediate execution. “ _Shoot on sight_ ” the transmission commanded- this from The First Order’s perspective made sense.

What did not make sense was her own visceral reaction to seeing the slowly rotating holo image of his unmasked face being beamed across the galaxy to every First Order ship and outpost with him starkly labelled as a traitor. Shock stilled her hands from her knitting, the needles made tinny clangs as they bounced from her knee and onto the cockpit floor. Her eyes widened as a strong twinge of shock filled her head from behind her eyes and bounced down her spine like a plucked string. An instantaneous feeling of worry filled her gut with a sickening wrench and her cheeks flushed hot with anger and outrage.

It all passed within a couple of seconds before she blinked, cursed and bent to pick up her needles from the floor.

She owed that man nothing. Less than nothing! If anything, **_he_** was the one who was heavily indebted to **_her_** and decidedly not the other way around.

 _She_ had rescued _him_. She had stolen and piloted the freighter that had made their escape from the Absolution possible. She’d made the jump to hyperspace back to Parnassos whilst he had been anesthetised. Vi had been the one to find Shiv’s hideout, to haul his unconscious and poisoned body to the med-bay where the Con Star mining droids had worked their magic. It was she who had piloted them all to the relative safety of the outer rim and furnished him with new clothes and a few credits to help him disappear on Serenno.

She remembered that farewell often. When the gentle hum of hyperspace fills the ship as she navigates from one side of the galaxy to another on some Resistance mission, as her nimble fingers click away at her current knitting project the memory seems to float up from nowhere and fill her head for a moment. That last parting of the ways; curt, formal and distant from an outward perspective but there had been so much unsaid. She could tell by his face, there were so many words beneath the surface waiting to be spoken but never were. They’d lingered silent and dumb before disappearing into the dark. He’d always had a very readable face, she’d seen that from the moment he’d first taken off his helmet… he would have made a lousy spy.

What had he done for her? Nothing good that’s for sure. He’d captured her ship, torn apart her droid, interrogated her for hours… ‘ _Let’s not sugar coat it_ ’, she thought to herself… then tortured her with electricity. When he had rinsed her for all the information he’d wanted he’d turned her loose, but he hadn’t helped her to escape. She’d been expected to find her own way off a star destroyer teeming with thousands of First Order troops, and then even after she had risked everything to go back and save him he’d still refused to join her cause. He’d chosen exile over joining forces with her.

She was in the black and he was most definitely in the red…which is why she’d been so surprised at her initial reaction to the transmission. Surely her days of looking after this man were long behind her? And yet, she couldn’t seem to stop her hands from reaching for her encrypted intel data pad and searching for any information on the First Order’s presence in or around Serenno.


	2. Cardinal

Captain Cardinal (or Professor Nal as he was now known) didn’t know what he was most surprised at. Was it the fact that Vi know exactly where he was living and working on a planet with over 9 billion sentient beings living and working alongside him or the fact that she had actually sent him something that staggered him the most?

When the school’s clerk had buzzed on his quarter’s door and told him that he may have received a parcel it had taken all of his previous training not to stare slack jawed as the small metal inter-galactic transport package was carried into the room. No one in the galaxy knew his exact location (or so he thought) there obviously must have been some mistake.

“You’re not expecting anything then Sir?” the clerk had asked.

“No.” he’d replied cautiously. He peered at the package suspiciously. “There’s no name on it.”

The label appeared to have been torn or scorched in transit and only the school’s address was visible beneath the damage. That peeked his curiosity some more, it seemed too convenient.

“It’s been passed around most of the faculty already Sir. The Headmaster suggested it might belong to you as none of the other staff know anyone called Vi.”

Cardinal blinked, “Vi?” His voice quivered somewhat and the young clerk seemed to notice.

“There’s no return address either Sir but there is a personal note written on the packing label.”

He lifted the box closer and turned it so that Cardinal could see the whole label. Sure enough where a return address was typically printed instead there was a hand written sign off.

 _“From Vi, x”_ It read in a casual looking hand.

He could almost picture her wry smile and teasing eyes through the words. A lump came to his throat.

“Yes, it’s for me.” He croaked. The clerk looked at him for some further information and Cardinal found himself saying, “It’s ah… from my wife.”

Where the hell had that lie come from?

The clerk though seemed satisfied enough with the response and cheerfully handed over the box without another word. Cardinal waited until he had left and locked his door behind him.

Slightly cautious that it somehow could be a trap, he opened the case very gingerly being careful not to disturb the contents too much. It was silly really, he reasoned, if there had been any technological components enclosed within the package then they would have been picked up on the custom scans and labelled on the box. Anything close to resembling any type of bomb would have been picked up and destroyed before it even got onto the planet. He thought for a panicked moment of Phasma’s poisoned beetles before realising that any lifeform, no matter how small would also have been picked up and declared at customs.

As it stood the customs label merely read “ _organic based apparel_ ” which puzzled him immensely.

Ever the solider though he still took his time methodically unclasping the lid, taking care to not jostle the box or place too much pressure on any one spot. When he finally popped the lid of the parcel his nerves were primed, ready to expect something terrible to leap out of the container at any moment.

Nothing did of course. What he found encased within the thin metal container were a pair of chuncky knit and extremely warm looking fingerless mittens.

He blinked at them, frowned, blinked again and stared down at them as though by looking long enough they would somehow explain themselves to him.

What the hell?!

A puzzled and perplexed hand gently removed the gift from its packing. The touch of the wool was soft and warm against his fingertips. It made him think of her hand squeezing his as she reassured him that he would be okay, that she would get them to a place where he could be healed, that the poison was old and slow and he could make it if he would keep on fighting. She too had been soft, warm and reassuring as he had dozed in and out of anaesthetically induced consciousness.

He hadn’t deserved her kindness then. He didn’t deserve her generosity now.

Holding the mittens in both hands he clutched them roughly knowing that he was unworthy of such a gift and frustrated at knowing that there would be no way to repay her kindness to him. But wait… there was something else. Inside the left glove was a concealed note, he’d heard it crinkle as he crumpled the mittens. He removed it quickly.

A handwritten note on parchment written in the same causal hand as the sign off on the case. Cardinal shook his head and smiled. He’d not seen a hand lettered note since his early days on Jakku. No one used this method of communication any more… no one! That Vi was a canny one, no wonder she made such a good spy.

Another darker thought crossed his mind. For her to have gone to such efforts to conceal a communication with him could not mean good news.

He sat down at his desk and prepared himself to read whatever update his new fake wife had sent him.


	3. Vi

The idea had come to her, like most of her good ideas usually did, when she was knitting. One finished mitten down and the second already taking shape on the needles she realised that if she was going to communicate with the Cardinal then she needed a method that would ensure that it could not be traced back to either of them. Their current locations were on a need to know only basis, and Vi was almost certain that the only person that knew of his current locale was herself. She’d reasoned all those months ago that The Resistance didn’t need to know anything that had transpired on The Absolution and later on Parnassos. If the Captain had decided to join her cause then perhaps things would have been different and she would have told General Organa everything that had transpired. But as it stood there seemed no need for the organisation to know anything about what happened since it didn’t affect their mission at all.

Vi was a spy, information was her currency and she had grown adept at knowing who should know what and when. She has taken a gamble that the whereabouts of the ex-Captain Cardinal was best kept off the official Resistance records for now.

Spies should have secrets, she’d reasoned, otherwise they’d be pretty useless. Which is why she’d also withheld Shiv and her daughter’s relocation from the records as well.

The only problem now being that communication with any of her compatriots from her great First Order adventure was made incredibly tricky.

Vi’s own investigations into activities in the Outer Rim had turned up some worrying findings. The First Order had taken up residence on Batuu which meant they were in the area. Serenno and Batuu shared trading links and transport highways across the Outer Rim, and if The Order were on one planet then much like a virus they were bound to spread to others and quickly.

 _‘Execute on sight’_ the transmission had said. Cardinal was to be made an example of, he had to be made an example of if they were to maintain order amongst their troops. They needed to stamp out his stain on their perfect programming once and for all. Vi also suspected that Phasma had a personal stake in seeing him cut down and made an example of. There’d be no clearer example then his severed head fixed on a spike transmitted across the galaxy for every trooper to see. Phasma would do it without hesitation, Vi knew that. She’d do it and relish every moment of her rivals defeat and humiliation.

Vi sighed. Why was she going to so much trouble for this man? It wasn’t as though he deserved it. But a small part of her spoke and reasoned that she was only going to warn him. It could be a quick and relatively simple act of mercy on her part. Whether he took any heed of her warning would be up to him- she wasn’t about to fight every trooper in the Outer Rim for him or anything.

Deep down she knew, and had figured out pretty much from the moment he had first interrogated her, that he was at heart a deeply principled man. Certainly no other officer in the Order would have let her leave with her life. Despite the torchure he had at least a degree of humanity left in him that she had definitely not seen present in any other First Order affiliate. 

Besides, how many had she left in a worse state in her own pursuit for a perceived greater cause? How many had she left bleeding or worse in her own line of duty?

Vi shuddered, she didn’t like to think about it. Her hands were dirty and it was the kind of stain that would never wash clean. That’s why she’d never told Baako of her alternative employment. She never wanted to see him look at her differently. She never wanted to see the word ‘killer’ reflected in his eyes.

Sometimes she worried that he would somehow smell it on her. That the lingering stench of her bloodied hands would cling to her skin, her hair, her clothes.

Was that why she was making these gloves? Was she attempting to hide the shame of her trigger-happy fingers from her idealistic and politically minded brother?

No. Surely not. They were far too big for her own small hands. Though, she also couldn’t see Baako wearing them as they would hardly fit in with his fine dignitary outerwear.

She thought then of Cardinal and of the blood on his hands from active duty. Perhaps he’d wear them and be glad of them.

Transmissions could be tracked, monitored and traced back to their source, but no one would expect correspondence by handwritten note. That sort of practice had die out long ago in most civilisations across the galaxy.

Feeling bolstered by her own ingenuity Vi set to finding the correct materials needed to send her rather antiquated communiqué.


	4. Cardinal

She’d addressed the note to ‘Emergency Break’ and Cardinal had smiled despite himself. How she managed to stay so obnoxiously charming even when captured and interrogated never failed to amaze him even to this day.

_“Emergency Brake,_

_I hope you are well and that retirement is treating you kindly. I hear the weather can turn quite suddenly on Serenno so I hope you can put these mittens to good use. I knitted them myself during a particularly arduous journey across the galaxy. Incidentally, I happened to hear a message from some old friends of yours. It seems they want to see you rather urgently and they really want to make a party out of it- if you know what I mean._

_I know we talked about the possibility of this reunion when we last parted but it seems that they might be taking up residence in the local area, specifically on Batuu. I just thought I’d better mention it to you as I’m aware that when you last saw them you parted on less than favourable terms and I didn’t like to think of them just popping round uninvited and surprising you._

_I’m sorry for the lack of return address, but you know me, I’m always here, there and everywhere these days. Business is booming and I seem to be in high demand. If you would like to talk more regularly, so I can update you on any news, then I’ve enclosed a frequency at the bottom of the page that should connect securely no matter where I am in the galaxy._

_I hope you’ll call, I’d love to hear your news._

_-Vi_

_P.S. I hope you at least took my advice on growing in your beard. I’m telling you, it’d really suit you.”_

He scratched his hairy chin absently as he read the last part. He had at least listened and followed her advice on that score. He looked almost unrecognisable from the First Order Captain he had been only 3 months before.

She’d been cryptic and purposefully vague in the letter, but he knew exactly what she was trying to tell him. It was a warning; The Order were more visible in the Outer Rim. He shook his head with surprise as he lowered the note from his eyes. Even now she was still looking out for him. After everything he had put her through she was still willing to stick her neck out to warn him to watch his back. He did not deserve such treatment. In fact he had not deserved any of the help she had given him at all. He would have been dead if it hadn’t been for her. He’d have been just another name that Phasma could have added to her list of defeated foes if not for Vi Moradi. He owed her everything, and yet the one thing she had asked of him he could not give her. He could not join The Resistance.

He wanted to join a cause as the routine and the rigidity of the life suited him well. He did not care about the danger, he was a solider first and foremost, active duty and the prospect of an early death did not frighten him- if anything he found it exhilarating. It was not the prospect of staying and working with Vi that had made him refuse (despite her jokes to the contrary). He should have told her at the time that it was only the thought of staying with her and working with her that had almost swayed his decision. The thought of being her first-mate, of the days and hours they would have to spend alone together onboard her ship traversing the galaxy, of hearing her gay laughter and the soft clicking of her knitting needles everyday had been the only thing that had almost made him put aside his reservations and agree to the proposal.

The image of her brown eyes and smiling face were things he had dwelt upon often over these past months when he questioned his decision to refuse her offer, but he knew he could never knowingly inflict harm on any of those troopers.

The Resistance viewed them as a faceless menace, new cogs in the war machine that needed to be stopped by any means, but to him they were the children that he helped to raise. He knew their faces behind their masks, he knew their numbers, their nicknames, their planets of origin. He knew their strengths, their weaknesses, their successes, their failures and their fears. He, like many teachers, in his own way, loved them as though they were his own flesh and blood. And even though he knew that if just one trooper recognised him they would, without question, cut him down in the street with a blaster bolt he know equally that he could never raise a weapon against them even to defend himself.

What use then could he be to Vi or her Resistance? Even now they were still on the same side of the fight he could not inflict harm on those that he had had a hand in creating. He was a pacifist now, he supposed.

_“I hope you’ll call. I’d love to hear your news.”_

He was suddenly overwhelmed with the need to see her face. He wanted to hear the sarcastic drawl of her voice singing in his ears again. He owed her an explanation- hell, he owed her much more than that, but this was all he could give her at this time. She deserved so much more than his gratitude, and in his heart he knew that he felt so much more than simply grateful to her for saving his life. He felt… something that he had not before, something that he could not name yet. He felt something, that was as far as he could describe it. But if he could not articulate it to himself then he could hardly articulate it to her.

 _Best not to contact Vi at all_.  He reasoned.

There was no need to speak to her if he had nothing to say. It was best if he could just put the whole thing behind him and never think of her again. There was no point in dwelling on something that could never be, that was the safest and most sensible route to take.

Still though, he did not destroy the letter. He filed it away amongst the data pads on his desk, and as he stepped out of his quarters to walk across the campus to his classroom he found the soft woollen mittens a warm and gentle relief against the cold wind swirling in the atmosphere.


	5. Vi

Several cycles passed and still Vi had heard nothing.

 _Perhaps,_ she mused _, this is a good thing._

Though she had had no response from her letter, she had been notified that the parcel had been delivered which meant that someone at the school had opened it. She wondered whether some stranger was now walking around the campus wearing the mittens she had knitted and hoped that if that were the case that they at least appreciated her handiwork.

Nothing could also mean that Cardinal was alive or at least avoiding capture and execution by the First Order. At the very least their communications were still transmitting the same ‘kill on sight’ message and she checked the transmission daily.

She considered that that might be a problem. Perhaps checking for news of his death every day was excessive. Particularly on days when she had been travelling long hours through hyperspace and she might check the transmission several times an hour. In fact, there had been journeys of late where she has been known to just leave the transmission frequency playing and had listened for hours as the First Order looped the same messages over and over again to their various ships and stations across the galaxy.

So far nothing had changed. Well nothing had changed as far as the transmission went but Vi had to admit that something had changed within her. Even she recognised the obsessive nature by which she sought out news of Cardinal. At times she was driven mad by thoughts that things would be clearer if she could only see him again because then she’d… and here’s where she got stuck. Then she’d what? What would she do? Punch him? Hug him? Kiss him? Ask to be his friend?

Had those electric shocks fried her brain completely?

What was is exactly that she wanted from the man who had captured her, interrogated her, nursed her and then let her go? She had no answers only more questions and as her confusion grew so did the absurd notion that if she could only see him again, face-to-face, that somehow everything would fall into place and be made clear to her and she could put these maddening wonderings to bed for good. Maybe she wanted to kill him, maybe she wanted to marry him, at that moment she was completely in the dark. But if she could see him again then she had convinced herself that she’d know exactly what to feel.

More cycles passed more missions undertaken and more information gathered, and still nothing. By now Vi had knit several jumpers in various sizes and colours and she had just cast on a pair of bright woollen socks when an incoming transmission beeped noisily from the console. At first she had thought that it must have been the General with more orders as the frequency was encoded, but then she realised that it was her own private encoding and not the Resistance’s which meant only one thing. She shoved her knitting aside and with trembling fingers pressed the receive button. A crackling image of a fully bearded Cardinal flashed up on the projector screen for a split second before breaking down into a splutter of crackling static and jarred chopped up words, none of which she could make out. She wasn’t surprised the signal was struggling given how far away from the Outer Rim she was currently. The distance and the encoding made it almost impossible to establish a steady visual link unless you were using the latest technology and she suspected that if he was contacting her from the school that that was not likely to be the case (especially given the state of school funding).

She punched a couple of buttons on the control panel and the struggling image disappeared entirely.

“We’ll probably have to give up on visuals as I’m too far out.” She felt quite disappointed, but that was soon squashed when the static subsided and his low steady voice replied.

“Copy that. No problem.”

She smiled.

 _Ever the soldier_ , she thought. His voice came through so clearly now that she could almost imagine that he was in the cockpit sat next to her in the navigational chair. The thought did not fill her with uneasiness at all, perhaps she didn’t want to murder him. Vi closed her eyes.

“It’s me.” He stated stupidly, as though she wouldn’t know who it was using her top-secret frequency.

“I’m aware.” She replied snippily meaning to sound jovial but somehow slipping into annoyance. Perhaps she did want to kill him after all. He must have picked up on the tone as he replied,

“I’m sorry to have to contacted you. I know you must be busy with other things.”

Vi wasn’t sure if he was being purposely vague because he was concerned about the security of the channel or whether he was still unwilling to accept that she worked for The Resistance. The thought rankled her further. But either way perhaps caution was advisable, she had no idea what environment or equipment he was working with at his end so perhaps being a little light on the details was advisable just in case he was being monitored.

“Well you know, business is business and there’s plenty going on to keep me busy these days.”

“Yes,” he said, coming to the point, “speaking of which, my old friends have recently moved into the area. They’re making quite an impression on the locals I can tell you.”

Vi’s heart dropped. So the First Order had moved a base onto Serenno. She knew they had been sniffing around the Outer Rim for some time and had set up a base on Batuu but clearly they had spread.

 _What could they be looking for out there?_ She wondered.

“A big family?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied and added hesitantly, “they appear to be looking for something specifically. I don’t know what it is, but I hope it’s not anything to do with us.”

“It could be, they are still asking around about you.”

“Oh.” He paused, and she could almost hear the tension build in the silence that followed. Several moments passed before finally he spoke, she thought she heard sadness in his voice.

“I’m sorry to have to ask…”

“I can be there in a day.”

“No, you can’t… you don’t have to come. Just tell your employers that I have things to sell…”

“Absolutely not. You do not have to do that.”

“Vi, it’s dangerous here…”

“Then I’ll be careful.” The anger was back in her voice and her eyes were open now. She moved over to the navi-com and entered in the coordinates for the nearest space port to the school on Serenno. His voice cut through her hyperspace calculations.

“You’ve already done enough for me, I don’t expect anything more.”

She ignored him, “With a clear run I can be with you in 18 hours.”

“I can’t ask you to do this.” His voice took on his commander-and-chief tone, but she was no damned trooper cadet.

“You didn’t ask. I need to refuel but I’ll be there in less than 20 hours, be ready.”

She heard him sign and begin to protest in his serious voice again but there were voices behind him now.

“Professor Nal?” a female voice enquired in the distance and his voice rushed into an awkward but jovial tone.

“I’ll see you in 20 hours then darling.”

Vi blinked in surprise and then found herself replying in an equally awkward and jovial tone, “Looking forward to it!” before the communication was ended on his end.

_Darling? …Darling?!_

She reminded herself to ask him about that and finished her hyperspace calculations. Soon enough she was cruising across the galaxy to Serenno.

Picking up her knitting again she allowed the sound of the clicking needles sooth her nerves as she sat back in the blue light of hyperspace.

 _Darling_. She thought, as her fingers found their rhythm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the delay but I do have a good excuse- I've had a baby so my writing time has reduced significantly!


End file.
